Renting perceptions rapidly changing

From HousingWire:

NMHC: Housing policy must adapt to growing renter population

The United States needs to shift its housing policy to recognize the rising number of Americans opting for rental housing and reduce incentives that prioritize homeownership, according to the National Multi Housing Council.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to create thriving and sustainable communities,” said council President Doug Bibby in a presentation to the National Apartment Summit in Tysons Corner, Va., earlier this week. “But only if we change our thinking about rental housing and renters.”

There is a growing disconnect between America’s housing needs and current housing policy, he told the group.

“The U.S. is on the cusp of fundamental change in our housing dynamics as changing demographics and changing housing preferences drive more people away from the typical suburban house and toward the type of housing that rental housing offers,” Bibby said.

“Families with children made up more than half of households decades ago, but they made up only one-third of households in 2000, and by 2025, they will be closer to one-fifth,” he said.

More than 14% of U.S. households live in apartments, and in this decade, renters could make up more than half of all new households as their ranks swell by more than 7 million, according to the council, a research and lobbying group for the apartment industry.

Bibby argued housing policy should change to de-emphasize homeownership, an area where he said incentives “overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy and distort the economy by encouraging people to over-invest in housing.”

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240 Responses to Renting perceptions rapidly changing

  1. Mike says:

    Good Morning New Jersey

  2. funnelcloud says:

    Good Morning Mike!

  3. grim says:

    From Bloomberg:

    Sales of New Homes in U.S. Probably Decreased

    Purchases of new houses in the U.S. probably declined in August to the lowest level in six months as buyers sought cheaper distressed properties, economists said before a report today.

    Sales fell 1.3 percent, a fourth consecutive drop, to a 294,000 annual pace, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 59 economists.

    Foreclosure-driven price decreases for previously owned homes may keep luring investors away from new properties, hurting builders like Lennar Corp. Limited access to credit, rising unemployment and waning consumer confidence also signal the industry that helped precipitate the last recession will take time to find its footing.

    “New-home sales will remain depressed for some time as there are more bargains in the existing-homes market,” said Millan Mulraine, senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities Inc. in New York. “The glut of unsold houses and fickle demand will keep putting pressure on builders.”

    The Commerce Department report is due at 10 a.m. in Washington. Economists’ forecasts ranged from 275,000 to 320,000.

  4. Abe Vigoda about to defeat Greece in office deadpool.

    Unbelievable.

  5. “Sales fell 1.3 percent, a fourth consecutive drop, to a 294,000 annual pace, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 59 economists.”

    Please refer all questions to Gary.

  6. jamil says:

    “The Commerce Department report is due at 10 a.m. in Washington. Economists’ forecasts ranged from 275,000 to 320,000.”

    dare I predict that if bad news, it is unexpected in State Media reports?

  7. All Hype says:

    Stench of Death (4):

    Merkel out this morning trying to save Greece. WTF has happened to this country? These are a great industrious people who work hard and take care of themselves. Their gubbmint has sold them down the river.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-25/merkel-can-t-rule-out-euro-area-sovereign-default-after-esm-fund-in-place.html

  8. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [7] hype

    Perhaps Germany should simply annex Greece. Not unprecedented, and no need for the Wehrmacht.

    Or as Saki said in “When William Came”, Warum nicht?

  9. Confused in NJ says:

    7.All Hype says:
    September 26, 2011 at 8:18 am
    Stench of Death (4):

    Merkel out this morning trying to save Greece. WTF has happened to this country? These are a great industrious people who work hard and take care of themselves. Their gubbmint has sold them down the river

    The western nations no longer have nationalistic governments, rather they are all run by a Global Cabal. The last American President was DDE.

  10. JJ says:

    I bought an European Bank Bond on Friday, figured either be broke this week or saved. Vegas style investing is what this bailout nation has created.

  11. chicagofinance says:

    clot: you should have taken Your Office in your office dead pool…..

    There Went Meat says:
    September 26, 2011 at 6:59 am
    Abe Vigoda about to defeat Greece in office deadpool.
    Unbelievable.

  12. chicagofinance says:

    Fuking Jets :(
    I can’t take it. I think not having Mangold really murdered them….also Cromartie had a game for the ages….

  13. chicagofinance says:

    The End Is Nigh (Blow Edition):

    Here’s another sign of the stalled economy — New Yorkers are ditching their coke habits.

    Cocaine-related emergency-room admissions, overdoses and requests for rehab have declined since the economy started its 2008 decline, according to data obtained by The Post.

    “It is sort of on a slight but steady downward trend,” said Dr. Stephen Ross, director of NYU’s Langone Center of Excellence on Addiction. “I treat patients in private practice. Many cocaine addicts tell me stories they don’t have enough money to buy it anymore.”

    There were 478 “accidental” deaths in which cocaine was a factor, typically overdoses, in New York City in 2006, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

    That number plunged to just 274 in 2010.

    Powder-cocaine addicts typically shell out $60 to $80 a gram, so perhaps the high cost of blow is why also a smaller number of people — 7,693 — sought treatment for cocaine addiction in New York City last year, according to the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.

    That number is a drop from 9,654 in 2008.

  14. grim says:

    Good Greece & Bad Greece? Ringfencing bad assets? Really?

    At what point does default start to look like the solution and not the problem?

  15. Juce Box says:

    re# 14- Greece – even the cops there are protesting now.

    “Greek police held their own protest, with the force’s Special Guards unit hanging a giant black banner from the top of Lycabettus Hill in the capital reading “Pay day, day of mourning.””

  16. JC says:

    Doug Bibby has his own agenda too, IMHO. Granted, there are people who shouldn’t buy, but in a country that has a variety of housing stock, and if we can get to a notion that a kid doesn’t have to grow up in a house where he has his own bathroom, a game room, a home theatre and an indoor jacuzzi, then housing should be affordable for middle class families.

    For decades, there were houses that were affordable for middle-income Americans. If you couldn’t afford the pool, or the extra bathroom, you made do, but there was affordable housing — capes, splits, ranches for middle-income workers. My neighbors next door raised two perfectly acceptable children in a 1300 square foot ranch with one bathroom and each kid in a tiny bedroom less than 10 x 10.

    To turn this into a nation of renters is part of the systematic elimination of the middle class, with a few wealthy “landowners” and serfs paying to rent. Not exactly a desirable state of affairs.

  17. 3B says:

    #17 JC: It is not even the prices so much any more (as they are continuing to fall) taken longer in the so called better blue ribbon towns. It is the property taxes that are the killer. 12K or 13k or more for capes, splits and ranches. Even the land of unicorns is getting competitive on prices now, bu the taxes are just a joke.

  18. yo'me says:

    Nom,
    It never got a direct cash injection or a pre-packaged bankruptcy, but the bailout of GM and Chrysler prevented a cascade of follow-on bankruptcies of suppliers, many of which supply Ford.

    Remember, too, that Ford CEO Alan Mulally was right there in front of Congress supporting a bailout for “the industry.” That they didn’t take the cash, directly, but they got a bailout.

    Comrade Nom Deplume says:
    September 25, 2011 at 8:12 pm
    (145) yome

    I’m confused.

    Wasn’t it Ford that didn’t get bailed out?

    Wasnt it Ford that didn’t get a gov-arranged pre-pack that stiffed the bondholders and handed a big chunk of equity to UAW?

  19. danxp says:

    12

    cromartie is horrible… he made a similarly boneheaded play last year but didn’t luckily didn’t fumble that time… he probably cost us at least 10 points…

    mangold being out didn’t help either.

  20. Anon E. Moose says:

    Yo [139, yesterday];

    [Quoting Dean Baker] However, it is not clear why there should be any cuts in Medicare and Social Security as a quid pro quo. The cohorts nearing retirement, who would almost certainly be prime victims of Friedman’s Grand Bargain, has seen most of their wealth disappear as a result of the collapse of the housing bubble. Why does it make sense to hit them again with cuts to Medicare and Social Security?

    Here’s a good reason, Dean: It’s because the retiring Baby Boomers are the generation that cashed out their houses by selling their kids’ generation into perpetual debt slavery. It’s because the Baby Boomers elected the politicians who raided the cookie jar of their SS Trust Fund which has them looking to the kids paying off their 50-year interest-only mortgages for uncapped social security taxes so Ma and Pa Kettle (no offense, Ket) can continue to spend their golden years feeding the slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino. Its because they retiring Baby Boomers already bought the race car, the vineyard, the perpetual cruise condo – just like in all those Ameriprize commercials – and are now want more from the next generation to avoid facing the feline diet.

    Never has one American generation squandered so much that was handed to them, or given the generation behind them a country that is so far worse off than what they were given.

  21. joyce says:

    Dean Baker is an idiot… Krugman-lite

    Or I should say, they have an agenda while pretending to be “economists”

  22. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [17] JC

    Actually, what will happen is somewhat the opposite. Btwn rent control laws and tenant’s rights, you will see a systematic partial taking of wide swaths of property, particularly in urban areas. When fully compliant, a landlord in a rent-controlled, strong tenant’s rights jurisdiction, won’t make much money and is more likely to lose money.

  23. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [19] yome

    Well, that is one way of spinning it.

  24. nj escapee says:

    What is happening to precious metals? Must be those dam-ned Boomers at it again.

  25. chicagofinance says:

    dan: I think Mangold being out was the key; the Raiders defense was not that good. Sanchez was getting pummeled like a Red-Headed Albanian step-child; once it was clear the Jets couldn’t run or go long since Sanchez had not time, the Raiders shut down all the dink-and-dunk routes. Also, the Sanchez passes kept getting deflected because the lineman were so close…..

    danxp says:
    September 26, 2011 at 10:04 am
    12 cromartie is horrible… he made a similarly boneheaded play last year but didn’t luckily didn’t fumble that time… he probably cost us at least 10 points…
    mangold being out didn’t help either.

  26. 3B says:

    #21 Why did they see their wealth evaporate because of the housing bubble burst? Were these boomer’s predicting that the 180k to 200K house that they bought in the late 80’s early 90’s which were still around those same prices in the late 90’s know that their houses were going to double and triple in value over the next 5 to 6 years? how about the boomer’s that bought in the 1960’s, 70’s and early 80’s?

    So what we are really saying is that the boomer’s went crazy on spending when the housing market went crazy, now all their wealth is gone, and their children and grandchildren should pay for their mistakes. That is just simply unacceptable.

  27. chicagofinance says:

    cash needs to be raised; coming up on quarter end.

    nj escapee says:
    September 26, 2011 at 10:29 am
    What is happening to precious metals? Must be those dam-ned Boomers at it again.

  28. JCer says:

    Nom, rent control, anti-eviction, and section 8 are the reason cities in NJ and first ring suburbs decline, or are plain old ghetto. As much as renters rights are a good thing as a renter I can tell you, I lived in a building with a protected tenant as a downstairs neighbor, the lady was crazy, god help the person who bought the condo I used to live in.[23] This is the beginning of the ghettoization of america, soon it will all look like central Newark.

  29. gary says:

    Giants 29 – Eagles 16

    Any Questions? ;)

  30. NjescaPee says:

    Chi-fi thanks, makes sense to me.

  31. yo'me says:

    moose

    The baby boomers paid into SS,because their population is larger than the previous one,there is a surplas that was invested in bonds now called a trust fund.While the boomers were working,money coming in was sufficient to pay retirees with sufficient amount going into trust fund.It was known all along that once the boomers start retiring the trust fund will be touch because the generation that will pay for them are less in numbers.Reagan adjusted this and a $1.6T surplas in the trust fund was created.With this its obligation can be met 100% until 2036 and 70% after that.The youngest boomer will be 80 years old by 2036.Adjustment for the next generation will be minimal to meet its need.Unfunded SS is not true.What your calling for is for the Gov to stiff the boomers and not pay its debt to its citizen.

    The boomers were smart investors.Most of them their pensions were stripped and have to rely on 401k and savings.You are blaming them for the housing bubble that was created by our leaders and did nothing to stop the bubble.Maybe they got carried away by greed,as most.My wife even called me stupid because my neighbor is driving the latest cars and beautiful home.
    Marketing in this country is so strong that something wrong can make it look right.It is the job of our leaders to stop this and they failed to do so.

    We have to agree to disagree on this

  32. Happy Renter says:

    [18] “Even the land of unicorns is getting competitive on prices now, but the taxes are just a joke.”

    Hey, now – those taxes are necessary to maintain sustainable population levels of the skittle-dropping unicorns of Brigadoon-on-Hackensack.

  33. joyce says:

    (32)
    There is no trust fund. All of the money has been spent.

  34. yo'me says:

    Joyce 34

    There is no Treasuries (notes,Bonds) that money has been spent

  35. joyce says:

    And the Supreme Court (co-conspirators) has ruled that no one has any defined benefiit in SS, if you will. It’s a tax that politicians can and do do anything they want with it.

  36. joyce says:

    (35)
    I agree; so why did you say the trust fund can meet its obligation until 2036?… there is no trust fund.

  37. yo'me says:

    Who do you believe? The government says,it has $1.6T in surplas and it is fully guaranteed by US Treasuries in writing or Joyce that says the supreme court says it will not be payed because its a tax.
    Again we can agree to disagree on this

  38. yo'me says:

    Again here is the website for SS.There is trust fund

    http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/fundFAQ.html

  39. yo'me says:

    #35 joyce is a sarcasm

  40. 3B says:

    #32 My wife even called me stupid because my neighbor is driving the latest cars and beautiful home.
    Marketing in this country is so strong that something wrong can make it look right.It is the job of our leaders to stop this and they failed to do so.

    So you are saying it is up to our leaders to save ourselves form ourselves? As far as your wife, with all due respect, tell her to be quiet or go out and get a job or another job if she wants all the toys. Oh and I would not let your wife call you stupid.

  41. Juce Box says:

    re: # 32 – yo’me problem lies with the fact that do to medical advances about one out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, and one out of 10 will live past age 95. Do your math skills predict we can take care of all of those Baby Boomer Geezers with SS and Medicare intact without massive tax increases?

    76 million in the boomer generation. Do the math we are going to need allot of Depends, Crossword Puzzles, and will have to perhaps convert all of the bicycle lanes into Blue Hair lanes. My wife’s grandma soon to be 100 is still driving!

  42. joyce says:

    From the horse’s mouth:
    http://www.ssa.gov/history/nestor.html

    Forgive me, but in your first post, you said there is a trust fund. Then you said “there is no treasuries” – and it your last post, you said there are. I’m just trying to understand what you’re saying. ?

    And I did not say it will not be paid. I just said there is no trust fund, and Congress can and has altered the contribution/benefits for SS in the past and can do it in the future.

  43. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    There is a trust fund
    It is filled with IOUs from the USG
    The USG can alter SS if it wants.

  44. danxp says:

    26

    great points chifi… i’m a little concerned the jets will start their annual swoon early this year as they’ve got a really vicious schedule now… they had to have this game… they could go 1-7 over the next 8… yes, i’m your typical jets fan… prepare for the worst, secretly expect the best…

  45. 3B says:

    #33 Sorry I forgot. Unicorns do tend to over breed in the land of Nirvana.

  46. yo'me says:

    3b It is the policies of our leaders that defines our life
    Juice Studies have been made that Longer Life expectancy is to the rich.They eat well less stress.They live the good life.90% of Americans have a stressfull life,don’t eat well and a good amount don’t even see a doctor.Who will live pass 90?

  47. yo'me says:

    Joyce what I am trying to say is people that are buying treasuries now will not be paid just like SS.Beacause it is spent

  48. gary says:

    I like a nice Chianti with my unicorn steak. Just saying.

  49. JJ says:

    Ford tricked the majority of bond holders into tendering bonds at 20 cents on a dollar or get nothing in bk. Meanwhile withing 24 months bonds were back at par. The retail and older investor mostly got sucked in. I guess trickery is better than begging to Uncle Sam.

    yo’me says:
    September 26, 2011 at 9:16 am

    Nom,
    It never got a direct cash injection or a pre-packaged bankruptcy, but the bailout of GM and Chrysler prevented a cascade of follow-on bankruptcies of suppliers, many of which supply Ford.

    Remember, too, that Ford CEO Alan Mulally was right there in front of Congress supporting a bailout for “the industry.” That they didn’t take the cash, directly, but they got a bailout.

    Comrade Nom Deplume says:
    September 25, 2011 at 8:12 pm
    (145) yome

    I’m confused.

    Wasn’t it Ford that didn’t get bailed out?

    Wasnt it Ford that didn’t get a gov-arranged pre-pack that stiffed the bondholders and handed a big chunk of equity to UAW?

  50. yo'me says:

    Nom
    I agree it can alter SS but will not be able to turn their back on the $1.6 T surplass that is guaranteed by the treasury and our useless dollar.They just printed $1.6 T on QE2 buying bonds why worry not getting paid.The printing press still going.

  51. make money says:

    It’s not Mangold or the Offense. They scored 24 points. Normally when Rex’s teams score 24 they win. It’s the linebackers and the D-line that got smacked around which concerns me in addition to the Cromartie questionable calls. Bart Scott had a terrible game. Missed opportunity to gain a game on Brady will send them on the road in January and JJ won’t be able to sell his playoff tickets.

    Jets are like Shiny…buy the dip.

  52. 3B says:

    #49 gary: You do know that Unicorns are an endnagered species?

  53. danxp says:

    52

    oh don’t get me started on the d… it’s so infuriating that rex’s defense is constantly rated a ‘top’ d… as has been said, many times the jets d can’t stop a nose bleed… yet they’re one of the top 5 defenses? i don’t get it…

    jets superbowl champs this year! woohoo!

  54. Happy Renter says:

    Big housing blow: New home sales fall, again
    http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2011-09-26/new-home-sales-fall/50553098/1

    “WASHINGTON – Sales of new U.S. homes fell to a six-month low in August. The fourth straight monthly decline during the peak buying season suggests the housing market is years away from a recovery.

    High unemployment, larger required down payments and tougher lending standards are preventing many people from buying homes. Plunging stocks and a growing fear that the U.S. could tip back into another recession are also keeping people from entering the housing market.

    Sales were uneven across the U.S. They plunged 13.6% in the Northeast

    Home prices have dropped more since the recession started, on a percentage basis, than during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It took 19 years for prices to fully recover after the Depression.”

    ——–

    Please refer all questions to Gary.

  55. 3B says:

    #55 larger required down payments and tougher lending standards are preventing many people from buying homes

    FHA????

  56. funnelcloud says:

    Rent , Rent , Rent A house
    Better not buy here,
    Save your money,
    Then split this state
    or take it in the rear!

    Housing prices are falling down, falling down, falling down
    Housing prices are falling down, But we’ll still tax you in Jersey

    Towns charge ton’s of taxes
    Statehouse is full of asses
    Taxes, Taxes, We all go broke

    Mary, Mary tax collector
    How do you get your cash
    We tax your income, We tax your House
    We F*$* you in the A**!

  57. Anon E. Moose says:

    3b [27];

    I think you misread my intent. I come to bury Boomers, not to praise them.

  58. Libtard in Union says:

    JJ.

    You still feel the same way about Kodak as you used to?

  59. Juce Box says:

    re: 358 – Moose – “I come to bury Boomers”

    Applying for a position on the Death Panel?

  60. 3B says:

    #58 No I understood. I am at the tail end of the boomer’s. And I think they are the most self absorbed, shallow, and, selfish generation this country has ever produced.

  61. NJCoast says:

    49.gary says:
    September 26, 2011 at 11:17 am
    I like a nice Chianti with my unicorn steak. Just saying.

    We had a BBQ on the beach yesterday. Somebody brought the best tasting filet mignon I’ve had in a long time. When I told them how good it was they told me it was venison shot with a bow in their back yard in Little Silver. Grass fed no antibiotics, and can’t get much more local than that. It’s hard to get over the whole Bambi thing though. I told them next time bring unicorn!

  62. Mike says:

    57 Good afternoon Funnelcloud and thanks, I’ll be humming those the rest of the day!

  63. chicagofinance says:

    ulqin albani: If the Jets had Mangold, they might have scored another 7-10 points, and Cro doesn’t muff the KO its a W. You are right of course, but also there is no real video of this Raiders team. The Jets are good defense with superior coaching. If they get outcoached, they do not have enought talent to compensate. I do give some credit to Rex, he has to hide stuff for later in the season and the playoffs. You can’t bring an A-game to the West Coast early (although conference). He has to save the best for the NE games and I guess now BUF until they log some L’s.

    All that said, the Linebackers sucked…..

    make money says:
    September 26, 2011 at 11:28 am
    It’s not Mangold or the Offense. They scored 24 points. Normally when Rex’s teams score 24 they win. It’s the linebackers and the D-line that got smacked around which concerns me in addition to the Cromartie questionable calls. Bart Scott had a terrible game. Missed opportunity to gain a game on Brady will send them on the road in January and JJ won’t be able to sell his playoff tickets.

    Jets are like Shiny…buy the dip.

  64. hype (7)-

    Why worry about Merkel shafting here people? It’s nothing, compared to the reaming we’re taking from four levels of our own criminal gubmint racket.

  65. chi (11)-

    Hey! My office is still functioning.

    Just not with me there every day. I think my agents are better off without me.

  66. 3b (41)-

    Oh, for the days when you could slap a mouthy byatch upside the head and not end up in the hoosegaw for it.

    “Oh and I would not let your wife call you stupid.”

  67. Juce Box says:

    Says allot for recovery when Warren isn’t buying and decides to dump dollars and UST.

  68. juice (42)-

    We can’t start the death panels soon enough.

    “76 million in the boomer generation. Do the math we are going to need allot of Depends, Crossword Puzzles, and will have to perhaps convert all of the bicycle lanes into Blue Hair lanes. My wife’s grandma soon to be 100 is still driving!”

  69. gary (49)-

    If you saw fresh unicorn roadkill, would you pull over, field dress it and take it home?

  70. chicagofinance says:

    RE/MAX
    Outstanding Agents. Outstanding Results.
    Liberate Tuteme Ex Inferis
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su54aO1muOg

    There Went Meat says:
    September 26, 2011 at 12:53 pm
    chi (11)- Hey! My office is still functioning.
    Just not with me there every day. I think my agents are better off without me.

  71. I should’ve never gotten out of the food & wine biz. Took me about two weeks to get my game back.

  72. Libtard in Union says:

    “If you saw fresh unicorn roadkill…”

    I’d get a bunch of skewers, an oversized deep-fryer and would begin to test market a can’t fail delicacy, Uni-Corndogs.

  73. jamil says:

    wasn’t our own Keith once part of DOJ apparatus and complaining about the political nature of DOJ? Did they dare to hire one non-marxist during Shore’s tenure?

    “The Justice Department is forbidden by federal law from hiring employees based on political affiliation. Yet the resumes revealed the following ideological breakdown among the new hires:
    Leftist lawyers: 113
    Moderate, non-ideological, or conservative lawyers: 0.”

    http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/%E2%80%98every-single-one%E2%80%99-fallout-justice-dept-in-turmoil-from-pjmedia-series/
    Somehow I don’t think we see this in NY Slimes.

  74. chicagofinance says:

    clot: I think I know which is your new gig. Just an educated guess.

    Is the Miguel guy the owner or the one who fcuked it up?

  75. JC says:

    #69: I only wish I was going to be around to see the generations that follow you say the same things about you. And they will.

  76. 3B says:

    #67 There: I would not advocate that, but a spouse calling their spouse stupid is not acceptable. He should have at least stuck up for himself.

  77. 3B says:

    #76 JC There/Clot is a Boomer!!!

  78. Juce Box says:

    Booooo! Ballers would have been much better.

    Nets team executives revealed on Monday that the Barclays Center-bound basketball team will be called the Brooklyn Nets.

  79. gary says:

    Meat [70],

    No, I wouldn’t take it home. I’d cut it’s head off and put it in Graydon’s mommie and daddy’s bed.

  80. yo'me says:

    Even I trying to make sense of it all,started to accept I am stupid.When you see your neighbors living a good life for more than a decade of leveraging and the leaders of our country did not do a thing about it.I hear posters that were under pressure from their wives to buy a house.That did not change until the bubble burst,And the people that tried to make sense of it all were glorified.
    Same leaders that brought this mess,did not see a $1.6 T dollar housing bubble are the same ones that are preaching of doom and gloom for the middleclass but the incentives are for the upper class.

    Who can blame a wife living with in your means for over a decade not to get jealous from the neighbor having the best things in life just by signing their name in the dotted line.I feel I am lucky the bubble burst before she divorced me and I am the thinking hero.

  81. nj escapee says:

    yo’me, face it you are pouring your heart out and posting to a bunch of wannabe tough guy gangstas. I’ll bet moose and his ilk are just a bunch of p_ssies.

  82. 3B says:

    #81 If she was going to divorce you because you neighbors were supposedly living the good life. Wee than there is not much left to say.

  83. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [74] jamil

    The DOJ does hire based on political affiliation. They simply couch it in language that is ideological and take care not to identify political party as a criterion.

    Read their job postings, especially the ones in the civil rights division. The criteria clearly evinces a preference for left wing ideologues. And it isn’t just DoJ. FTC also applies ideological criteria. Arguably, it isn’t hard criteria; it’s just a preference. Of course, if you evinced a “preference” for NASCAR lovers for that mechanic’s job, you’d get your butt sued by the very same DoJ.

    I know that is your point. I just thought I would back it up with some facts.

    FWIW, this is hardly new, but I never saw it this bad or this overt in the past.

  84. 3B says:

    #81 Also for those who were comfortably living the good life, because they could well afford it, than fair play to them. But as we knew here for a long time, and what has now become widely acknowl edged is that many, maybe even most of them were not. Living in a Mc Man and driving an expensive car with bills up to your eyebrows, is not my idea of living the good life.

  85. 3B says:

    #80 Or Madison, or Dakota, or Cheyenne, or Mason.

  86. yo'me says:

    #85
    We can all agree to that here,My argument is the same people that did not see and stop the housing bubble are the same people making the same policies today.As I have said The citizens of a country’s lives are molded by the policies of their leaders.We can see that from emerging markets to the poorest countries in the world.Now,it is more obvious in this country

  87. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [74] jamil

    I especially loved this part:

    “The Division does not take into account actual or perceived political or ideological affiliations in the career hiring process — much less inquire into applicants’ political or ideological affiliations as occurred during the period examined in the 2008 Report and documented in the Report. The blog postings referenced in your letter posit that working at certain organizations, belonging to certain groups, participating in certain activities in law school, or even having a certain sexual orientation necessarily reflects a particular political or ideological affiliation, and therefore establishes that hiring decisions were made based on that perceived affiliation. That is not the case. ”

    If they didn’t consider organizations, groups, and affiliations relevant, why did they express a preference for them in thier ads?

  88. Juce Box says:

    Yo’me you are way underestimating the overhang of the expansion of credit. The Joneses are broke. U.S. household debt, which includes mortgages, home equity lines, credit cards, auto loans and student debt now stands at $11.4 trillion.

    Anyone foolish enough to live their lives day to day on credit is going to be a dead man come retirement time. Something like 45% of the boomers have less than 25k in savings. They will be paying people to put them out of their misery.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh8mNjeuyV4

  89. yo'me says:

    Bet on Bernanke producing ‘monster’ gains
    Ten-year Treasuries up 28% this year as fed head has managed to keep inflation in check

    http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20110926/FREE/110929951

    Juce Box says:
    September 26, 2011 at 1:00 pm
    Says allot for recovery when Warren isn’t buying and decides to dump dollars and UST.

  90. yo'me says:

    Juice see post #87

  91. 3B says:

    #87 Yome: We are all responsible for the decisions that we make, both good and bad. And we have all made decisions both good and bad. Blaming it on the government now is just an excuse for people. When did Americans turn into a bunch of cry babies??

  92. 3B says:

    #89 Juice: They will blow up well before retirement; they are blowing up now.

  93. Juce Box says:

    yo’me – Last politician I listened too was Ronald Regan. Government policy is supposed to be designed to rationally correct a problem when in reality all it does is subsidize the problem. Once you realize that you will be against most things politicians say and do.

  94. yo'me says:

    3b

    I will disagree.Look at the lives of the chinese between now and the time of Mao.The policies of Mao and other tyrants made their peoples lives.Only the few close to the leaders living a good life.You can make the right choices in those countries.With out getting close to the leaders is meaningless.

  95. michele says:

    Simply, admirable what you have done here. It is pleasing to look you express from the heart and your clarity on this significant content can be easily looked.

  96. 3B says:

    #95 Yome: you lost me on that one!

  97. Anon E. Moose says:

    Juice [94];

    Last politician I listened too was Ronald Regan. Government policy is supposed to be designed to rationally correct a problem when in reality all it does is subsidize the problem. Once you realize that you will be against most things politicians say and do.

    Juice, the problem is that the “solution” is made to appeal to the electorate, and not predicated on any likelihood of success.

    Example: Higer Ed.
    Problem: Tuition (Rent?) is too damn high!
    Gov’t Solution: Subsidize.
    Result: Tuition increases outpace inflation; overabundance of credentialed graduates lacking any marketable skills; students bound to non-dischargeable debt.

  98. JJ says:

    30 year zeros are up even more than 28%.

  99. Happy Renter says:

    [97] “Simply, admirable what you have done here. It is pleasing to look you express from the heart and your clarity on this significant content can be easily looked.”

    And this listing is special, right Michele?

  100. Barbara says:

    I think I am going to pitch a show to hgtv.
    “how to be poor and love it!”. All around me, used furniture stores, thrift, used appliance stores. Takes me back to the 90s recession, we were all broke but weren’t too proud to buy some used stuff, fix it up and live fairly well. I have young relatives that cringe at the thought of buying something used, but are too broke to buy new. F the poor. In fact, that should be the name of the show.

  101. gary says:

    Barbara [102],

    Geezus, I love it!!

  102. Barbara says:

    I am currently looking for a used dresser to lacquer and apply Greek keys to the drawers ala Dorthy Draper style. You can buy them vintage and new but they cost thousands. These local stores are full of great bargains but are empty, everyone is crowding the malls still. What poor people?

  103. nj escapee says:

    All you whiney gen-xers and millenials have got to get a grip. Maybe it’s just those primadonas in the tristate (north jersey / nyc /ct) region. What the heck makes you think that you’re all entitled to private college educations, expensive vacations, bimmers, volvos, mcmansions, brooklyn or hoboken brownstones? Really most folks I know work hard even most of the retirees I know volunteer their time to the community, live in modest homes, help their kids however they can and don’t squander their money on stuff. You really need to spend less time spewing your BS and get out more.

  104. Barbara says:

    Gary I could furnish a two bedroom apartment, minus mattresses, for under 1,000 and a few bucks at the home depot for refurbing. Great stuff out there if you know how to use sandpaper and paints and stains.

  105. 3B says:

    #06 Barbara But, but, but…..People will think you are poor!!!!

  106. gary says:

    Barbara,

    I agree. I’m inconsistent myself. I’ll either just buy brand new impulsively or find something fixable/useable as you said. I need to step back and take the time to find the good stuff at great bargains. I certainly won’t be impulsive when pulling the trigger on a house, though!

  107. Barbara says:

    3b funny thing is, when seeing the finished product and learning about how it was acquired and transformed, most people are just impressed. we have become an atrophied muscle.

  108. Barbara says:

    Yeah your best fixer is a house at a fixer price. I think it’s more than just getting something cheap, it’s getting it cheap and turning into something you can be proud of. I buy new stuff too when the cost of redoing plus purchase no longer makes sense.

  109. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    Barb I just picked up a yard vac on craigslist for 100 bucks. Downside not self propelled, upside new one cost about 400. For a machine I would use tops 8 times a year I could not justify buying new.

  110. Barbara says:

    Pain a yard vac was left with they users we just bought. how do you like it and what exactly do you use it for? I’ve always just used a rake, is this easier?

  111. livinginpa says:

    #102 Barbara, would love it if you would share the names/locations of some those stores. Like you, I have no problem sanding, painting, staining used furniture. But we just don’t have too many sources around these parts. I know there’s a great store in the Englishtown area. Name escapes me. Besides, I need some projects to work on while we bide our time renting and waiting for sellers to get some reality.

  112. Barbara says:

    .*with the house*

  113. 3B says:

    #108I certainly won’t be impulsive when pulling the trigger on a house, though.

    So you are buying int the land of Unicorns??

  114. 3B says:

    #11 Would you do that for a snow blower?

  115. 3B says:

    #09 Not in Bergen county.

  116. Barbara says:

    Living, I’m right outside of philly now. I don’t have names but if here there are a lot on rt 30 and rt 168. I just drive down the street and see what I can find. living in middlesex county for 20 years, I relied on garage and gestate sales are the used furniture stores were far fewer. there was a huge three floor used furniture place in Plainfield, downtown.

  117. nj escapee says:

    Can you live on $9 an hour? Play the gameBy Allison Linn

    http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2011/09/26/7926328-can-you-live-on-9-an-hour-play-the-game
    Most Americans know the facts about low-wage work, but many have been lucky enough to avoid actually having to live on $8 or $9 an hour.

    A computer game called Spent gives you the opportunity to see what it would be like to walk in a poor person’s shoes.

    The game, by an advertising firm called McKinney and Urban Ministries of Durham, N.C., starts with a choice: Would you like to be a server, a warehouse worker or a temp?

    From there, the choices get more difficult.

    Should you pay to get your pet medical care, or let the animal suffer?

    Should you go to the dentist or suffer yourself and save some bucks?

    Should you let your child and a friend get ice cream, or do you need that $5 for bills?

    The game is interspersed with facts about the choices people with very little money are making every day, and the consequences of those choices.

    Want to see how well you could manage your money on a very low wage? Play it yourself.

  118. scribe says:

    JJ,

    Your comment about 30 year zeros …could you explain?

  119. Barbara says:

    Escapee, I don’t need an inter webs game to know what it’s like, I lived it. Rent can be pretty affordable when you split it with others. Can’t afford kids? don’t have any.

  120. JJ says:

    Zero Coupon Bonds

    Zero coupon bonds are bonds that do not pay interest during the life of the bonds. Instead, investors buy zero coupon bonds at a deep discount from their face value, which is the amount a bond will be worth when it “matures” or comes due. When a zero coupon bond matures, the investor will receive one lump sum equal to the initial investment plus the imputed interest, which is discussed below.

    The maturity dates on zero coupon bonds are usually long-term—many don’t mature for ten, fifteen, or more years. These long-term maturity dates allow an investor to plan for a long-range goal, such as paying for a child’s college education. With the deep discount, an investor can put up a small amount of money that can grow over many years.

    Investors can purchase different kinds of zero coupon bonds in the secondary markets that have been issued from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Treasury, corporations, and state and local government entities.

    Because zero coupon bonds pay no interest until maturity, their prices fluctuate more than other types of bonds in the secondary market. In addition, although no payments are made on zero coupon bonds until they mature, investors may still have to pay federal, state, and local income tax on the imputed or “phantom” interest that accrues each year. Some investors avoid paying tax on the imputed interest by buying municipal zero coupon bonds (if they live in the state where the bond was issued) or purchasing the few corporate zero coupon bonds that have tax-exempt status.

  121. jamil says:

    120
    Zero just turned 50.

  122. Happy Renter says:

    [119] What a crock of phony libtard propaganda.

    “Should you pay to get your pet medical care, or let the animal suffer?”

    You’re too poor to afford to keep an animal around for fun; get rid of it.

    “Should you go to the dentist or suffer yourself and save some bucks?”

    Do they also ask you whether you should brush after every meal, floss daily, and not stuff your face with junk food and soda?

    “Should you let your child and a friend get ice cream, or do you need that $5 for bills?”

    Your child can get ice cream as a treat once in a while; he’s not entitled to it every week. And let the parents of your child’s friend pay for their own kid’s ice cream.

    Some more “tough questions” from the game itself …

    “Your bathroom sink has a small leak that just became a big leak. Your landlord won’t return your calls, and you can’t put it off any longer. what do you want to do? (a) Call a plumber or (b) try to fix it yourself?”

    The game charges you $50 bucks to fix it yourself. Setting aside the fact that it’d likely only cost a few bucks, how about option (c) document the damage and laugh to yourself as you think how your deadbeat landlord’s investment property is being ruined while you will be withholding the next 6 months rent to pay for all the damage to your stuff, wink wink.

    “You’re driving with your kid in the backseat when your car slips on a slick stretch of road and slides into a parked car, causing a big dent in the number and a broken taillight. What do you want to do? (a) pay the damage or (b) drive away?”

    How about (c) learn to effing drive and/or stop hitting the bottle before you strap kiddo in the back and go cruising down to Home Liquors for a replenishment. Come to think of it, what are you doing with a car anyway? You only make $9/hour.

    I know . . . all these tough decisions, it’s like, so complicated to live within your means . . .

  123. 3B says:

    After Operation Twist, Fed Governor Raskin says more easing may be needed. Oh and she says they would like to be called Owls, not Doves or Hawks.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-raskin-says-more-easing-may-be-needed-2011-09-26-950370?dist=afterbell

  124. Barbara says:

    124. Growing up I never had a non relative buy me anything….ever. Rather buy a 2.50 gallon of store brand chocolate and just have you friend over for a treat and Looney Tunes. Oh, the horror.

  125. Barbara says:

    Comes to about .50 cents for a big serving.

  126. JJ says:

    By Sue Chang

    SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — European officials are considering setting up a special purpose vehicle to buy bonds issued by distressed European states, CNBC reported Monday on its website. The plan calls for using funds from the European Financial Stability Facility to capitalize a special purpose vehicle, which would issue bonds from investors and then use the proceeds to buy debt of distressed European countries, according to CNBC. The idea is to alleviate the pressure on European banks that hold a lot of distressed sovereign debt, the report said.

  127. Barbara says:

    Ok gotta go chase some teenaged zombies off my lawn now. They are angry because mom can only afford Canal Street Abercrombie and they want Haagen Daaz RIGHT NOW.

  128. relo says:

    121: Barb,

    Idiocracy?

  129. JJ says:

    We gave back a two dogs to shelters growing up. But then again I worked as a lab assistant when I was 16 where the lab would inject cancer into the mice, cats, rabbits etc and then try to cure them with all types of crazy things, 1,000 times daily dose vitamin C etc. Nasty part was cleaning the cages, even nastier part was getting rid of the animals, killing and red bagging a room full of dead animals with cancer for minimum wage. I thought that was a bad job, until next summer when I got to clean out the used tampon dispensors in the ladies room. OMG, ladies, yikes, made me want to go back to animal killing.

    Happy Renter says:
    September 26, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    [119] What a crock of phony libtard propaganda.

    “Should you pay to get your pet medical care, or let the animal suffer?”

    You’re too poor to afford to keep an animal around for fun; get rid of it.

  130. yo'me says:

    3B
    I will put it another way;Everybody here knows low rates policies for over a decade created over leveraging in the housing market.If the policy makers Gspan and the rest of the governors acknowledge what was going on,they could have stopped the housing bubble.instead our president then GWB came out and was proud to have the most homeowners in the history of the country.When they knew people are over leveraging to what they can afford.The citizens of this country took the bait and everybody was an expert in real estate investment.How hard can it be just sign your name.
    To today Policy makers Bnke and the rest kept low rates to keep the gambling going.The Savers and the retired are getting killed to get higher interest income.They need to take a higher risk to get a yield that they can get in a savings account a few years ago.
    Another example of policies that shape the lives of the citizen is Free trade agreement.You know how many jobs were lost due to this policy.People that lost their jobs could have done all the right things be responsible for their actions but have no choice.

    3B says:
    September 26, 2011 at 2:19 pm
    #87 Yome: We are all responsible for the decisions that we make, both good and bad. And we have all made decisions both good and bad. Blaming it on the government now is just an excuse for people. When did Americans turn into a bunch of cry babies??

    3B says:
    September 26, 2011 at 2:41 pm
    #95 Yome: you lost me on that one!

  131. Barbara says:

    Yo’me, to sum up and marry both your points, it’s been a government sponsored assassination of individual character.

  132. yo'me says:

    Barbara,exactly! Blaming the people that gambled in housing is not exactly not just their own fault.It is a government sponsored conspiracy

  133. cobbler says:

    you’me [132]
    I never end being amazed by the geezers’ demands for higher and at the same time 100% safe interest rates. For bank to pay someone say 7% interest and not go bust, it has to lend money at at least 10% for a seriously secured loan, and much higher for the unsecured one. There is zero appetite among the creditworthy people to borrow money at these rates; there is barely enough appetite to borrow it at less than 4%.

  134. JJ says:

    That game is silly. First of all if I needed a part for my sink would just take if from a public bathroom and broke people hit and run. Heck when I was broke I once hit and ran when I got T-boned by a chevy. Why, was on probation, one ticket lose license and car was not registered in my name. Car only worth like $50 bucks. Knew even though I got hit if accident pinned on me I be in big trouble. I once nailed a caddie once in NJ and guy took off. Funniest part of the t-boning was I got nailed at like 40 mph by a bigger american car. Guy was not even looking as he was dragging me sideways I gunned it and was moving forward to get loose. When I got free I flew between dumpster and store window through lot and onto one way street going wrong way where I fishtailed and somehow got free. When I looked back the other guy was still moving the other way!!!! He took off too. Bet he was drunk as a skunk. Anyhow a sledge hammer and car jack pushed out most of dent, electric metal saw free wheel from scrapping and ten pounds of bondo and plastic for missing window and my baby was back on the road again!!! Funny part of bad neighborhoods nobody stops.

    That same car months later loaned it out and guy had a hit and run in it where he mangled my front end. Stupid Idiot I ask him what did you hit, guy goes the UN. Generally speaking I no longer allow people to borrow my car and drive it into the United Nations. However, I did lend it out again after we fixed that mishap with a tow cable and a telephone pole to pull out front end. Only to have a third hit and run where the guy drove it into a college by accident. That thing is so funny to think anyone would stop in a $50 dollar car when they scrapped against an empty car.

    nj escapee says:
    September 26, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Can you live on $9 an hour? Play the gameBy Allison Linn

  135. cobbler says:

    JJ[131]
    There are many classical literature examples describing very poor people owning pets which sometimes had been their only solace in life. Not everyone has Michael Vick’s attitude.

  136. JJ says:

    Plus them good eats if times get bad.

    cobbler says:
    September 26, 2011 at 5:34 pm
    JJ[131]
    There are many classical literature examples describing very poor people owning pets which sometimes had been their only solace in life. Not everyone has Michael Vick’s attitude.

  137. yo'me says:

    Cobbler,
    “There is zero appetite among the creditworthy people to borrow money at these rates; there is barely enough appetite to borrow it at less than 4%.”
    this is what they could have done to stop the over leveraging.Only the people with cash and high paying jobs ,with high downpayment are the ones that can afford a house.

    “I never end being amazed by the geezers’ demands for higher and at the same time 100% safe interest rates. For bank to pay someone say 7% interest and not go bust, it has to lend money at at least 10% for a seriously secured loan, and much higher for the unsecured one.”

    In 2005 I had $300K sitting in a bank money market account earning 4.5%.It gave me less than a grand in interest income a month while I was waiting for a delivery on my second home.Interest rate on a 30 year mortgage during that time is 5.6% with good credit.

    Imagine what that can do to a saver or a retired person.$1000 a month.What can you get today?

  138. chi (75)-

    He was- I think- the guy who owned it until three years ago, when he sold to the present ownership group. Their first manager tried to run this place into the ground. It’s his mess I’m cleaning up.

  139. 3b (77)-

    I was just joking…hoping to provoke the overly-sensitive in our midst.

  140. 3b (78)-

    Technically, an Echo Boomer (1959).

    I despise the Boomer mentality, though. It is at the root of our country’s demise.

  141. 3b (83)-

    When in doubt, kill the byatch before she leaves you and cleans you out.

  142. That’s why God gave us woodchippers.

  143. babs (109)-

    Amerikan life has become Wall-e. We are all a bunch of imbecilic bags of blood.

  144. jj (128)-

    Circle jerk, continental-style. Monetize until failure.

    SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — European officials are considering setting up a special purpose vehicle to buy bonds issued by distressed European states, CNBC reported Monday on its website. The plan calls for using funds from the European Financial Stability Facility to capitalize a special purpose vehicle, which would issue bonds from investors and then use the proceeds to buy debt of distressed European countries, according to CNBC. The idea is to alleviate the pressure on European banks that hold a lot of distressed sovereign debt, the report said.

  145. chicagofinance says:

    clot: are you just consulting up there or are you onsite at all during business hours?

  146. Al Mossberg says:

    Nothing like a good dose of generational warfare to liven up a blog.

    Disgusting consumerism and g_v dependency is what makes me ill.

  147. Confused in NJ says:

    The Food and Drug Administration said preliminary results of an agency-funded study show women using Yaz and other birth control pills with the synthetic hormone drospirenone face an increased risk of developing blood clots.

    The early data suggests that women taking the contraceptives face a 1 1⁄2 times greater risk of experiencing the dangerous side effect compared with women using other, older birth control pills, according to a safety announcement posted on the FDA’s website yesterday. The study involved 800,000 women in the U.S

  148. freedy says:

    If Chris runs for pres. does Corzine want his job back ?

  149. Al Mossberg says:

    Michael Doherty introduced and endorsed Ron Paul at Trenton today. Doherty sponsored the Castle Law in NJ which Pennsylvania recently passed.

  150. scribe says:

    JJ,

    I’m interested more in how zeros are producing that kind of yield right now.

    30 year zeros are up even more than 28%.

    Or are you talking price?

    I know what a zero is.

  151. chi (147)-

    Here all the time. Running the place.

  152. I love Ron Paul, but the guy has zero chance of being President.

  153. 3b says:

    #141 We do have a few of those!!!

  154. jamil says:

    breaking news “Supreme Court could rule on healthcare law early next year”

    O thugs didn’t use the rehearing delay tactic. Guess dems silently hope SC repeals it so it won’t be an issue anymore by November.

  155. ithink ithink says:

    i’ve been wanting to post all day today so please forgive the long reply.

    Barbara says:
    September 26, 2011 at 3:29 pm
    I think I am going to pitch a show to hgtv.
    “how to be poor and love it!”.

    Kinda’ already been done, just not from the hgtv angle – you oughta pitch that.
    http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/10/23/sesame-street-i-am-somebody-segment-with-jesse-jackson/

    On a soap box I disagree with the ‘poor’ part of it. I think it’s more about choices how one appropriates their paycheck vs income coming in. quality/quantity … if ain’t broke don’t fix it but just cos it’s old and not broke, unless grandma, doesn’t mean throw it out either i.e. those poor people with stamps/WIC with a mobile phone / satellite dish argument – which is no different than the various others like house poor; h3 in the garden apt.; driving around for gas; boat with no retirement; vacay & no savings; tupperwaring the catering at work; etc. (q.ancedote – what recession? there was a line for coach purses at woodbury commons – not bread, purses, last weekend – is there an equivalant 1933 or 1937 data point for reference? i think that sorta thing would triangulate well)

    Any ways, yes, I guess poor and proud is the way to go about encouraging such a movement to seed the zeitgeist in a way, flesh things out a bit more, changing time towards tangibles or change of set in values, i.e. old = real wood and quality vs. new isn’t just chipped paint teak… and old is what it tries to be yet, its not – such ironys. Maybe the movement will get people to buy old and to realize faux is not only poor but what it mimics is poor, so buy something natually crackled.

    Barbara says:
    September 26, 2011 at 3:40 pm
    … Great stuff out there if you know how to use sandpaper and paints and stains.
    livinginpa says:
    September 26, 2011 at 3:55 pm
    #102 Barbara, would love it if you would share the names/locations of some those stores. Like you, I have no problem sanding, painting, staining used furniture. But we just don’t have too many sources around these parts.

    Here’s my thoughts…

    Know what’s funny? The prices for antiques at Rago (of A roadshow fame) in Lambertville kill Ethen, PB, etc. and yet, I guess it’s the drive time and shipping that disuades folks.

    If you want used furniture, diamonds in the rough – beat the markup – go to estatesales dot net. (that said also for 1st edition books, an old Nat. Geographic of someone’s birth date month makes a fun gift!) Slow and steady (mondo patience) wins the race. You can find inspiration at Design Sponge’s before and afters for inspiration. *tip* remove that old lady mothball chanel (or shalimar) perfume scent with baking soda and lavender.

    Otherwise these places for retail – in order of max amount of suck to least suck inventory and a nice day-trip journey IMO – are best bets as far as furniture is concerned.

    New Hope
    NYC antiques – Hells kitchen
    Red Bank antique 2 & 3
    various Salvation Armys
    Somerville
    Point Pleasant
    Lambertville
    Summit on Morris Ave.

    & if you want various rusted junk to renew – metal fence, bird baths, and other random bits of cast iron, then go see Jack in Stewartsville – corner of Prospect & rt 57 -across the st from the Llamas. Forgive appearances, there’s no bite. (seriously, dude has no front teeth)

  156. Barbara says:

    158.
    Tod Olham pretty much did it in the 90s for MTV. it’s nothing new, rather it has simply been forgotten.

  157. Barbara says:

    Estate sales.anything are already marked up, the only way to beat it is to get in line at 5am and get a ticket.

  158. grim says:

    So I’ll be officially homeless this afternoon.

    Movers coming in a few hours and either taking everything to storage or the basement.

    Mike – floors are a disaster, they are being redone today, back down to bare wood. Fingers crossed we can be in by the weekend.

  159. jamil says:

    161, if there only had been a blog or something warning people about house ownership..

  160. How about the blog that said a few days ago to BTFD in shiny?

    Looks like about a 7% pop in the last 24 hours.

  161. Own shiny. Live in your car.

    The new rules of the successful investor.

  162. yo'me says:

    Unfortunately the corporate income tax, originally intended as only a stopgap measure, was left in place unchanged. As a result, for the last 98 years we have had two completely separate and uncoordinated income taxes. It’s a bit as if corporations were owned by Martians, otherwise untaxed, instead of by their very earthly—and taxed—stockholders.

    This has had two deeply pernicious effects. One, it allowed the very rich to avoid taxes by playing the two systems against each other. When the top personal income tax rate soared to 75% in World War I, for instance, thousands of the rich simply incorporated their holdings in order to pay the much lower corporate tax rate.

    There has since been a sort of evolutionary arms race, as tax lawyers and accountants came up with ever new ways to game the system, and Congress endlessly added to the tax code to forbid or regulate the new strategies. The income tax act of 1913 had been 14 pages long. The Revenue Act of 1942 was 208 pages long, 78% of them devoted to closing or defining loopholes. It has only gotten worse.

    The other pernicious consequence of the separate corporate and personal income taxes has been a field day for demagogues and the misguided to claim that the rich are not paying their “fair share.” Warren Buffett recently claimed that he had paid only $6.9 million in taxes last year. But Berkshire Hathaway, of which Mr. Buffett owns 30%, paid $5.6 billion in corporate income taxes. Were Berkshire Hathaway a Subchapter S corporation and exempt from corporate income taxes, Mr. Buffett’s personal tax bill would have been 231 times higher, at $1.6 billion.

    Just as in the late 19th century, the tax code is now hopelessly arbitrary and unfair. It requires a complete overhaul.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576594471646927038.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

  163. Al Mossberg says:

    163.

    Meat,

    When the mining shares get moving you can buy parking lots for those living in their cars. Hugging fiat is synonymous with death.

  164. Mike says:

    JJ My broker comes across from time to time municipals with AMT and the yields are usually attractive. When he does come across some good ones he asks the question “did you ask your accountant if you are subject to AMT” Finally I asked and he said no. When I went to the IRS website they have about 20 questions that are asked. None pertain to me except one I’m not sure of and that was “Did you recieve tax exempt interest from private activity bonds” Can you clarify private activity. Most of the ones I own are GO but there are others. Have your coffee first. Thanks

  165. grim says:

    Greek debt apparently caused an earthquake south of Crete this morning

  166. NJCoast says:

    Grim-

    Welcome to your new home.
    Sent a housewarming gift via the donation button.
    Thanks for the blog.

  167. NJGator says:

    Renting is the new owning. It’s so 2005.

    Why Rent When You Can Nest?

    A FRIEND of mine named Eugene who is 28 and an investment banker lives at home in Connecticut with his parents. He can afford to live on his own, but he doesn’t see the point. He’s putting the money he would have spent on rent toward co-ownership of a pizza restaurant. And when he wants to stretch his limbs, he drives to his girlfriend’s apartment.

    Prolonged adolescence? Extended dependency? Neither. My friend, who was born in Russia and moved here as a child, is more future-focused than most American-born people his age. Chalk it up to culture. Ex-Soviets know how to survive in stagnant times. My Russian wife, after graduating from Cornell, moved in with her grandfather in Brooklyn; in this way she stretched the salary she made in one year as a paralegal for the three years it took her to write her first book.

    I, on the other hand, celebrated my first job after graduation by promptly signing away half my take-home pay on a $1,250-a-month rental. I grew up with an unspoken assumption, just as my parents had, that I would live on my own after college. My parents shared that assumption; they sold their large house for a smaller apartment that was big enough only for the children to visit. I couldn’t have moved back even if I’d wanted to.

    In some ways our parents see “success” and “independence” as synonyms, though no such conflation exists for many immigrants.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/why-rent-when-you-can-nest.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

  168. JJ says:

    Mike says:
    Just enter cusip at Fidelity site, you don’t even need an account and it will tell you if bond is subject to AMT. Most are not. Mainly Airport type stuff. Bonds subject to AMT pay a higher interest rate. If you make under 100K they are a slam dunk

    September 27, 2011 at 8:18 ame

    JJ My broker comes across from time to time municipals with AMT and the yields are usually attractive. When he does come across some good ones he asks the question “did you ask your accountant if you are subject to AMT” Finally I asked and he said no. When I went to the IRS website they have about 20 questions that are asked. None pertain to me except one I’m not sure of and that was “Did you recieve tax exempt interest from private activity bonds” Can you clarify private activity. Most of the ones I own are GO but there are others. Have your coffee first. Thanks

  169. JJ says:

    I moved back home when I was 27. Roommate bailed on me. If I did whole rent it would kill me and I would have to cancel hampton house. Instead paid a whole lot less rent to Mom, with added cash flow was able to keep Hampton House share and have cash for skiing and a vacation. So I went to Hamptons 16 weekends plus ten days vacation. 42 days, Went skiing around five weekends, ten days, went to island 7 days. Slept over Friends apt in City around 10 times a year after drinking and had a GF I spent like 40 nights a year at her place. So around 100 nights a year I was not home. Why not live at home. Really only need a place to sleep five nights a week. Plus I got to have a nicer car. Only downside was tons of errands and home repairs I would do as I was the one home and other siblings were married, But I saved a boatloand, Mom got $200 a month rent and free lawn service/snow removal and home repairs. Trouble is around 32 or so it gets creep and I was back out by 29

    NJGator says:
    September 27, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Renting is the new owning. It’s so 2005.

    Why Rent When You Can Nest?

    A FRIEND of mine named Eugene who is 28 and an investment banker lives at home in Connecticut with his parents. He can afford to live on his own, but he doesn’t see the point. He’s putting the money he would have spent on rent toward co-ownership of a pizza restaurant. And when he wants to stretch his limbs, he drives to his girlfriend’s apartment.

  170. yo'me says:

    #171
    It does make sense to let your kid live at home and encourage saving.My eldest is 24,works at MS lives at home with his GF.I gave him a responsibility to help us and at the same time he is saving.He has no student loans.I figure with him in the house or not, I still have to make payment on the house.Why not help him have a better future.Am too an immigrant.I don’t know if that is just a foreigners mentality

  171. still_looking says:

    Living at home with parents.

    From my experience, be careful.

    If they are ‘mentally healthy’ parents, fine. If they are using live-in children to buffer their own crumbling relationships or to (believe it or not) sponge off of you financially and emotionally, then beware.

    The money you save in rent will be paying for your counseling sessions.

    Just sayin’

    sl

  172. Happy Renter says:

    [166] “Hugging fiat is synonymous with death.”

    Certainly don’t want to be all-fiat, but I like to think that holding some dollar-denominated assets is diversifying into the U.S. stockpile of ICBMs.

    [174] “It does make sense to let your kid live at home and encourage saving.”

    I agree, IF your 24 year old “kid” is actually saving/investing. My kids aren’t going to be living rent-free with Mommy and Daddy while they spend their money on the latest iCrap and other toys. And there will be some “rent” paid, even if highly subsidized.

    All of this is, of course, dependent on whether our future Chinese Overlords will allow it.

  173. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Good article on something I talk about from time to time (and I get odd looks for it), but it supports the idea that, under the right conditions, it makes sense to incorporate a small biz as a C corp.

    http://taxprof.typepad.com/files/132tn1321-1.pdf

    Admittedly, the circumstances where this makes sense are limited, and for start-ups that usually have net losses in the beginning, the pass-through makes obvious sense. But it is still a sensible option for the right owner.

  174. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [176] renter

    Actually, you may want to re-think how rent is taken and allocated. In most states, rent isn’t deductible, so it never shows up on the payor’s (or the payee’s) tax forms (in Mass, it is deductible, but that is an outlier).

    So, what may make more sense if you want to help your kids is to charge full rent and then gift back a portion of it. It can be by contributions to a Roth IRA (if jr. qualifies), or to a spendthrift trust. If jr. is in college, it can go into the 529 plan for later use (it makes sense not to use 529 plans until jr/sr year in college), but that has less bounce. And if there is a small biz in the family, well, that opens up some nice planning possibilities, but I charge by the hour for that. ;-)

  175. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    I think I have mentioned in the past that we are getting close to having some of our allies tell the Obama Administration to go fcuk itself when it comes to tax enforcement on its citizens.

    For our Canadian friends, you are about to become the first skirmish in a future diplomatic dust-up.

    http://hodgen.com/phils-blog/

  176. freedy says:

    screw ryan and namath , one is a drunk the other a blowhard

  177. Happy Renter says:

    [178] Thanks for the tip, Nom — sounds like you’ve thought it through. As my little kids grow up, I’ll have to get serious about planning too.

  178. yo'me says:

    Nom see post #165
    This is exactly what WarrenB is talking about.Diverging payroll income to corporation and pay less taxes.That is why his secretary pays more in taxes than him

  179. The Original NJ Expat says:

    When I finally graduated college there was only one thing I wanted, my own place with no room-mate. My entire life up until that point I had never had my own room. Not at home, not at college, never. So I rented a little two room apartment and bought a new ’84 Honda CRX, my first new car ever. I did *briefly* consider moving home and buying a Porsche 944, but went with the Honda and the apartment instead.

  180. yo'me says:

    Home Prices Continue to Show Seasonal Strength
    According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
    New York, September 27, 2011 – Data through July 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its
    S&P/Case-Shiller 1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed a fourth
    consecutive month of increases for the 10- and 20-City Composites, with both up 0.9% in July over June.
    Seventeen of the 20 MSAs and both Composites posted positive monthly increases; Las Vegas and
    Phoenix were down over the month and Denver was unchanged. On an annual basis, Detroit and
    Washington DC were the two MSA that posted positive rates of change, up 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively.
    The remaining 18 MSAs and the 10- and 20- City Composites were down in July 2011 versus the same
    month last year. After three consecutive double-digit annual declines, Minneapolis improved marginally to
    a decline of 9.1%, which is still the worst of the 20 cities.

    http://www.standardandpoors.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobheadername3=MDT-
    Type&blobcol=urldocumentfile&blobtable=SPComSecureDocument&blobheadervalue2=inline%3B+filename%3Ddownload.pdf&blobheadername2=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobheadername1=content-type&blobwhere=1245321043141&blobheadervalue3=abinary%3B+charset%3DUTF-8&blobnocache=true

  181. Happy Renter says:

    [186] “Seasonal strength,” yeah, buy now or be priced out forever.

    (Or until home values “unexpectedly” sink further.)

  182. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [184] yo’me

    Actually, it is a bit more specific than that. Comparing the corporate v. individual to cap gains v. earned income is like comparing apples to pears. Related but distinct.

  183. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [182] renter,

    From my perspective, if you haven’t started planning when you get them home from the hospital, you are behind. If you have kids, you are already possibly leaving tax savings on the table.

    For example, mine save me money on cap gains, and they don’t get to keep the money. As they get older, there will be even more advantages; I recall an old Staples ad where the work at home dad says “can you collate those for daddy?”

  184. Mike says:

    JJ 172 I know how to tell if a bond is AMT, but how can I tell if it’ a private activity bond?

  185. 3B says:

    Mike See #168 for a definition of private activity bonds.

  186. JJ says:

    If it is AMT it is a private activity bond.
    Under Treasury Regulation section 1.141-2, an interest on a private activity bond is not excludable from gross income under section 103(a) of the Internal Revenue Code unless the bond is a qualified bond. Interest from private activity bonds became subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax after the Tax Reform Act of 1986. All things equal, yields on private activity bonds are higher due to this tax treatment.

    Mike says:
    September 27, 2011 at 11:39 am
    JJ 172 I know how to tell if a bond is AMT, but how can I tell if it’ a private ?

  187. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    Barb there are two things I hate doing raking and painting right now I’m painting ceilings prepping for the kids.

    As far as the yard vac it works really well, bag fills up quickly but I just dump it in the back of my pick up and over to the town dump. Beats the h-e-double hockey sticks out of raking

    Barbara says:

    September 26, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    Pain a yard vac was left with they users we just bought. how do you like it and what exactly do you use it for? I’ve always just used a rake, is this easier?

  188. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [194] pain

    Does that pick up acorns or small sticks? My big issue is acorns and the only thing that I found so far that works is a rake. I would love to find something that will either pick up or move acorns in short grass. My electric blower is just too weak.

  189. Al Mossberg says:

    I find it curious that the Huffington Post is putting out some quality reading material lately.

    Dr. Ron Paul’s 11-Point Plan That Could Save America

    “3. Taxes: Dr. Paul would support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that abolishes income and death taxes. Ideally, he’d like to close the IRS. He would seek to repeal capital gains taxes and reduce then abolish taxes on Social Security. Before a flat or fair tax would be implemented, Dr. Paul would ensure that the 16th Amendment, which made income taxation legal, would be repealed so we don’t end up with both.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-trice/ron-paul-11-point-plan_b_947832.html

  190. chicagofinance says:

    Ask the fcuker who is selling it to you……if he is making a commish, then he should earn it…..

    Mike says:
    September 27, 2011 at 11:39 am
    JJ 172 I know how to tell if a bond is AMT, but how can I tell if it’ a private activity bond?

  191. Painhrtz - Salmon of Doubt says:

    nom not really on acorns, but it has a small chipper on the side and I hace shoved a few small branches in it

  192. hughesrep says:

    195

    Cut down a two iron and teach your kids to hit the acorns into the neighbors yard.

  193. Anon E. Moose says:

    Al [196];

    I find it curious that the Huffington Post is putting out some quality reading material lately.

    Someone at 10 Columbus Circle must have been saddled with bottom line responsibility and figured out that they need a larger audience (and one with more spending power) than their usual beatniks.

  194. Happy Renter says:

    Timely article in the NY Times, in light of yesterday’s discussion of the “Spent” propaganda game . . .

    Every time I point out how overfed supposedly “poor” people are in this country, I’m told that’s only because all they can afford is fast food. Yeah, right.

    Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html

    THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli …” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

    This is just plain wrong. In fact it isn’t cheaper to eat highly processed food: a typical order for a family of four — for example, two Big Macs, a cheeseburger, six chicken McNuggets, two medium and two small fries, and two medium and two small sodas — costs, at the McDonald’s a hundred steps from where I write, about $28. (Judicious ordering of “Happy Meals” can reduce that to about $23 — and you get a few apple slices in addition to the fries!)

    In general, despite extensive government subsidies, hyperprocessed food remains more expensive than food cooked at home. You can serve a roasted chicken with vegetables along with a simple salad and milk for about $14, and feed four or even six people. If that’s too much money, substitute a meal of rice and canned beans with bacon, green peppers and onions; it’s easily enough for four people and costs about $9.

    It’s cooking that’s the real challenge. (The real challenge is not “I’m too busy to cook.” In 2010 the average American, regardless of weekly earnings, watched no less than an hour and a half of television per day. The time is there.)

  195. Juce Box says:

    re #201 – Not doubting the poor and fat in DA HOOD are overfed deep-fried crap, but at the same time try finding a supermarket in the hood to buy veggies. Heck try finding a place to buy anything after the sun sets besides fast food.

    http://www.trfund.com/TRF-LAA-widget.html

  196. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [199] hughesrep.

    I have actually thought about doing that. I also get beechnuts, and those are really good for pitching wedge practice. In fact, I leave an old wedge in the backyard, and every now and then . . . .

  197. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    [202] juice

    I plan to do my part when TSHTF, by growing veggies on the nompound, and then trucking them into an urban area and selling them out of the back of the truck, along with other groceries. Of course, the armed guards will dissuade any raids on the cashbox. You could even outfit the truck so that it really is a mobile bodega, complete with plexi, cash drawers, and a turntable.

    Years ago, people started outfitting old ice cream trucks to sell milk and other groceries in Da Hood in Washington, DC. The idea of a mobile bodega was one that I have had even before that. Low fixed costs, fly under gov. regulation radar, and high markups. My kind of enterprise.

  198. Happy Renter says:

    [202] Biggest ghetto around is Newark, the overwhelming majority of which is not even a “low access area” as defined by the TRF site you provided (and that’s assuming their data is even accurate). Yet it’s still stuffed with deep-fried “poor” fatties.

    Finding a supermarket once a week to load up on basic foodstuffs is a lot less in travel time (and probably distance, not to mention cost) than hitting up McDonald’s and KFC for every meal.

    We just keep making excuses.

  199. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    Years ago, my greek friends mentioned No Day. 70 years later, are we going to see another No Day?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohi_Day

  200. Happy Renter says:

    [204] “I plan to do my part when TSHTF, by growing veggies on the nompound, and then trucking them into an urban area and selling them out of the back of the truck, along with other groceries. ”

    My guess is people will look at you like you have three heads, as they walk past you on the way to the grease truck selling deep-fried anything for three times the price of your veggies.

  201. Juce Box says:

    Renter – there is one Shop rite and one C-Town in a city of how many?

  202. yo'me says:

    Employers’ spending on health coverage for workers spiked abruptly this year, with the average cost of a family plan rising by 9 percent, triple the growth seen in 2010
    Family plan premiums hit $15,073 on average, while coverage for single employees grew 8 percent to $5,429, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust. (KHN is an editorially-independent program of the foundation.)

    Workers paid an average of $921 toward the premium of single coverage and $4,129 for family plans.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44686762/ns/business-personal_finance/

  203. JC says:

    I’m surprised no one here has discovered Green Demolitions in Fairfield. When the Real Housewives of New Jersey get bored with their kitchens, wall units, furniture, bathrooms, appliances, etc., they donate it to GD who resells it and the money goes for rehab programs. The Habitat ReStore in Mine Hill is also a place to look for used stuff, though it’s kind of a crapshoot.

  204. yo'me says:

    Rising health cost is the biggest problem in this country.Nobody wants to solve the problem.
    Their answer is cut medicare and let patient be responsible.We are now more than 2x the cost other wealthy countries pay.A big number of US citizen don’t have one.Our answer is let them be responsible to their health

  205. Happy Renter says:

    [208] Since when are Shoprite and C-town the only grocery stores, let alone the only place to buy unprocessed basic foodstuff? You don’t need to tell me about the grocery stores in Newark, buddy – I lived there for years.

  206. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (209) yome

    Was that “unexpected”?

    Not to readers of this blog.

  207. Juice Box says:

    tick, tick, tick

    Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe’s debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a “stupid idea” and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.

    German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said it would be a folly to boost the EU’s bail-out machinery (EFSF) beyond its €440bn lending limit by deploying leverage to up to €2 trillion, perhaps by raising funds from the European Central Bank.

    “I don’t understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense,” he said.

    Mr Schauble told Washington to mind its own businesss after President Barack Obama rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalise banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is “scaring the world”.

    “It’s always much easier to give advice to others than to decide for yourself. I am well prepared to give advice to the US government,” he said.

    The comments risk irritating the White House. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been a key driver of plans to give the EFSF enough firepower to shore up Italy and Spain, fearing a drift into “cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk” without dramatic action.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8793010/Germany-slams-stupid-US-plans-to-boost-EU-rescue-fund.html

  208. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (207) renter,

    Sadly yes, but I don’t need to sell to everyone. Just so long as I sell out.

  209. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (214) juice,

    I said foreign governments would start telling us to pound sand, but this was unusually blunt given the issue.

  210. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    I smell down arrows for the futures in Asia, Europe and WS tomorrow.

  211. yo'me says:

    The problem with europe is each country is greedy to help one another.If greece can print its own money it could have done it and solve the problem.If EU just guaranteed all the loans print the money while the world is in the race to the bottom with the currency.It will have not matter.The lost in the value of the Euro will be minimal just like the US dollar.Everybody was expecting a big drop in the value of the dollar and everybody dropped the value of their currency too.Inflation is minimal.
    Europe needs a QE,even if they let Greece default.There are so many countries next in line.If they deed the QE with the US back then,their problem is still manageable.Now all this countries following Greece makes it more difficult.

  212. Juice Box says:

    Great neck students arrested for cheating on the SAT.
    JJ have a story for us?

  213. ann says:

    I want to say thank to the blogger very much not only for this post but also for his all preceding efforts. .

  214. JCer says:

    That German finance minister has some nerve, he does realize that Germany has an economy largely due to the kindness of US foreign policy after WWII. Germany owes America and the rest of Europe big time, it is prudent for them to make sure this doesn’t blow up. Again the real solution is forcing tough reforms on heavily indebted nations requiring them to balance their budget and modernize in order to restructure their debt with a tarp like fund which allows them to pay off their creditors and get stable low interest rate financing. Basically Germany needs to guarantee greek debt in exchange for real reform. This is politically unpopular in Germany and Greece, but they need to suck it up and fix the problem before it takes down europe.

  215. Shore Guy says:

    “Just so long as I sell out.”

    Abandoning your musical roots and going commercial?

  216. Shore Guy says:

    So, I hear Sly Stone has lost his mansion and is living in a “camper van” and is being fed by a retired couple who allows him to shower in their house.

  217. yo'me says:

    The provision would ban employment ads that explicitly declare the unemployed ineligible, with phrases like “Jobless need not apply.” As The Lookout has reported, such ads appear to have proliferated in recent years, prompting an inquiry by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

    Democratic lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have introduced similar measures. Obama said recently that discrimination against the unemployed makes “absolutely no sense,” especially because many people find themselves out of work through no fault of their own.

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/obama-proposes-letting-jobless-sue-discrimination-191042168.html

  218. Shore Guy says:

    Just found an article:

    In his heyday, he lived at 783 Bel Air Road, a four-bedroom, 5,432-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion that once belonged to John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas.

    The Tudor-style house was tricked out in his signature funky black, white and red color scheme. Shag carpet. Tiffany lamps in every room. A round water bed in the master bedroom. There were parties where Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Miles Davis would drop by, where Etta James would break into “At Last” by the bar.

    Just four years ago, he resided in a Napa Valley house so large it could only be described as a “compound,” with a vineyard out back and multiple cars in the driveway.

    But those days are gone.

    Today, Sly Stone — one of the greatest figures in soul-music history — is homeless, his fortune stolen by a lethal combination of excess, substance abuse and financial mismanagement. He lays his head inside a white camper van ironically stamped with the words “Pleasure Way” on the side. The van is parked on a residential street in Crenshaw, the rough Los Angeles neighborhood where “Boyz n the Hood” was set. A retired couple makes sure he eats once a day, and Stone showers at their house. The couple’s son serves as his assistant and driver.

    snip

    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/the_rise_and_fall_of_sly_stone_qijyKoYzmAqer1PA0YogSJ#ixzz1ZCTPvxhS

  219. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (223) shore,

    I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.

  220. Mikeinwaiting says:

    Grim 161 Saw that coming, sorry to hear though. Hope you are going with water based this time “Bona Traffic” is the way to go.

  221. Mikeinwaiting says:

    Grim that is why I do not use oil, now your floor guy does the job twice. No profit in that and you are an unhappy customer.

  222. yo (218)-

    It’s all over in Europe, except for the ceremonial bloodletting.

    Lehman x 100. They are hurtling straight back to the Stone Age.

    Then, the contagion will come to roost here.

    It all ends in tears, no matter how you slice it.

  223. nj escapee says:

    I think Christie gave a damned good speech tonight. Maybe he and POTUS can have a speech contest.

  224. JCer (22)-

    Disagree. What needs to be done is an honest accounting of unpayable debt; then default; then, a return of the defaulting nations to their original national currencies.

    Plans like Geethner’s simply extend the Ponzi and pack the time bomb of failure with even more deadly shrapnel. Pinheaded ideas such as his are the economic equivalent of war crimes.

  225. A bunch of Europeen egghead academic economists lever 400bn into 2 trill in order to recapitalize dead banks that own dead paper that will never regain as much as 1% of value. Never mind that the EU has regulations that specifically prohibit monetization of debt.

    Gee, that worked so well here in the US…

  226. Someone please shoot me now.

    “The special purpose vehicle could then be used as collateral for borrowing from the European Central Bank (ECB), allowing the central bank to make loans to banks faced with liquidity shortages. Let me be clear on this. The European banks which are already undercapitalized and on the brink of failure will buy bonds issued by the SPV that is full of bonds issued by broke countries. The banks will then used these bonds as collateral to borrow money from the ECB. The ECB winds up with loans to broke banks and holding bonds backed by debt issued by broke countries as collateral. This is worse than circular logic, its circular borrowing akin to the Credit Default Swap (CDS) markets that helped sink Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, just with a European flair.

    Are you getting the picture yet? It get’s better. Let’s throw in some leverage.

    The EFSF fund has already committed to providing emergency loans to Ireland, Portugal and Greece – the worst bets on the table. It is expected to provide over 100 million euros ($134.9 million) in additional funding for a Greek bailout. According to some estimates after those loans, the fund will be down to about 295 billion euros ($400 billion), So we assume they take roughly $200 billion or so from the European Financial Stability Facility to fund the special purpose vehicle.

    $200 billion is not NEARLY enough to solve the problems that Europe faces so the SPV will likely, as suggested by Tim Geithner, be levered up to 9x its capital giving the this vehicle about $1.8 Trillion to work with. The SPV, as stated will take the PIIGS debt in and the banks will get EIB paper which they can then use as collateral to get liquidity from the ECB. Doesn’t this sound a lot like the “good bank/bad bank” solution that Lehman tried to sell?

    Yes, the EIB paper is of stronger credit – barely – than the PIIGS paper but you are still left with the fact that broke countries are taking in debt from countries that cannot pay their debts, issuing a SPV to sell to other broke banks so that they can use it as collateral to borrow money after it has been leveraged 9x. 9x times a problem doesn’t make the problem smaller does it? What could possibly go wrong?”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-euro-tarp-why-it-will-be-screaming-failure

  227. chicagofinance says:

    From: Netflix Shipping [mailto:discship@netflix.com]
    Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:19 PM
    To:
    Subject: For Wed: Hobo with a Shotgun

    Shipped: Hobo with a Shotgun
    Arriving on or around:
    Wednesday, September 28, 2011

  228. Chi, I think the shotguns are needed in Germany.

  229. schabadoo says:

    Today, Sly Stone — one of the greatest figures in soul-music history — is homeless

    He performed not too long ago, completely out of it. The last interview I saw with him he came across as someone suffering from some sort of mental illness.

  230. freedy says:

    its called fried brain

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